Indonesia’s Crowded Skies

Jakarta – Surabaya – Bali Air Corridor Among the World’s Busiest

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(2/3/2013)

Harjoso, the director of technical operations for PT Angkasa Pura I – the State-owned company that runs most major airports in Indonesia, says the air route Jakarta – Surabaya – Denpasar (Bali) is the fifth most crowded air corridor in the world.

Quoted by Seputarbali.com, Harjoso said that while air traffic is heavy flying along the corridor between Jakarta-Surabaya-Denpasar, infrastructure issues remain the major obstacle in national air transportation.

Speaking at a meeting on Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) held at the Hotel Discovery Kartika Plaza in Bali on Monday, January 28, 2013, Harjoso said: “The route Jakarta-Surabaya-Denpasar has undergone a high rate of traffic development, in fact, growing 12 % every year over the past three years making it the fifth most crowded air corridor in the world today.”

He continued, saying the three Indonesian cities are in close proximity to air gateways of the international calibre of Singapore and other airports in neighboring countries. Because of this, the management of airports in the region are required to devise ways to organize flight schedules, sharing their international responsibility for air safety. “For this reason, ATFM feels the need to meet and discuss these issues,” said Harjoso.

Because of the crowded situation over the air route, Australia has offered Indonesia assistance ion managing air traffic over that sector.

Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport

Meanwhile, Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport has become one of the world’s leading airports. The Bali air gateway will soon have new international passengers terminal that is 130,000 square meters larger and a domestic passenger terminal that is 65,000 square meters larger than the existing facilities. In 2012, the Bali airport handled some 13.5 million domestic and international passengers with peaks days experiencing more than 300 aircraft movements.

Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport has exceeded its carrying capacity by 270%. The more than US$200 million spent on the airport’s upgrade will enable the airport to handle the APEC 2013 summit and a passenger load approaching 20 million passengers in a single year.

A leading Indonesian observer of the airline sector, Chappy Hakim, said the main problem of the national aviation sector is a lack of supporting infrastructure. Hakim said the development of national aviation lack a well-developed plan.